The Woman in the Septic Tank

Jocelyn, Rainier, and Bingbong are getting ready to shoot their first film and they really want to make a splash. Since they came up with the story idea over an expensive cup of coffee, they feel that their movie deserves to play the prestigious festival circuit, but that’s not all: they want Eugene Domingo, a local film diva, to play the lead. What better way to provoke Western audiences and an actress accustomed to luxury than through a combination of slums, septic tanks, and mothers forced into selling their own children? The comedy pokes fun at the stereotypical heart-wrenching dramas commonly produced in Third World countries that exploit actual suffering, but it also lampoons the machinations of filmmakers who will do pretty much anything for a stroll down the red carpet. Indeed, they may even allow their actress to deliver a heartrending monologue from the bottom of a septic tank. Although the picture parodies the recipe for a sure-fire route to the Academy Awards, it was in fact selected to represent its homeland at the Oscars. The Woman in the Septic Tank is the most successful independent film in the history of Philippine moviemaking. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)